The African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) is a Pan- African organisation, established in The Gambia in 1989. Since its inception, the Centre has been at the forefront in promoting and protecting human rights and democracy in Africa, through training, action-oriented research, publications and documentation. The 11th Training Course on the Use of International Human Rights Procedures for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Africa, is one of the main tools of ACDHRS to promote and protect human rights in Africa.

Reporters sans frontières (RSF), has urged the three rebel groups that operate in the western city of Man to do everything possible to secure the release of a reporter from the independent daily "Soir Info", who was detained by rebels on 6 February 2003.

In September 2002 the IMF's Executive Board finally approved a new set of guidelines on conditionality. These set out how its structural conditionality can be made more effective, with provisions on improving the clarity and focus of conditions, increasing recipient-country 'ownership' of reforms, and coordinating IMF conditionality with that of other organisations. But while any review of IMF conditionality is welcome, the new guidelines fail to address the deeper problems and flawed assumptions plaguing conditionality, says Bank and Fund watchdog the Bretton Woods Project.

The celebrated trial and conviction of six men accused of murdering Carlos Cardoso, one of Mozambique's top investigative journalists, was both a triumph of the openness of the court proceedings, and an indictment of the corruption among the country's rich and powerful.

MISA-Zimbabwe says they are appalled at the actions of police in barring journalists from the court room where the trial of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangarai is taking place.

E-Government has already arrived in Africa, though it is essentially an imported concept based on imported designs. There are growing numbers of e-government projects, some of which are contributing to public sector reform and delivering gains of efficiency and or effectiveness across a broad agenda. However, this positive picture must be set alongside significant challenges. E-Government is only slowly diffusing within Africa because of a lack of e-readiness for e-government that can be charted along six dimensions. There is widespread recognition that this challenge must be met by strategic building of national infrastructure.

Former department of roads director Kebonyekgotla Kemokgatla's freedom bid failed after the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal against a four-year jail term on Monday. Kemokgatla was convicted on a charge of corrupt practices by a Gaborone magistrate's court and sentenced to a custodial sentence of four years, two and a half years of which were suspended on condition he was not convicted of a similar offence during the period.

On 5 February 2003, police arrested Chali Nondo, chief reporter of "The Monitor" newspaper, and charged him with "publishing false news with intent to cause fear and alarm to the public". The journalist is being held at Woodlands police station in Lusaka and has been denied bond. The Inter-African Network for Human Rights and Development (AFRONET) has strongly condemned the police action. Their statement on the arrest is available through the web link provided.

Visit the e-activism page of Kubatana.net to find out just how bad the harassment of the media in Zimbabwe is - and how you can take action to support free expression.

Nekolera Gyange (I Run My Own Business) in Uganda uses radio to provide marginalised businesspeople - especially the self-employed - with a voice to influence environment and policy decisions, a platform for discussion, and a channel to receive information for their businesses. A CD Rom and video describing the programme have been produced.

Enormous benefits can be derived from ICTs as a tool for development. This will require the mainstreaming of information and knowledge concerns within the broad range of societal goals, with focus on development policy, as well as sectoral and cross-sectoral policies. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), approved by the United Nations Millennium Assembly, provide a powerful methodological and political framework for using ICTs to achieve this. Read the key points of the draft action plan for the second Preparatory Committee Meeting (PrepCom II) for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), to be held in Geneva (Switzerland) from 17 - 28 February 2003.

As part of a study into Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Rural and Low-Income Communities in Africa, field researchers from Gamos and their in-country partners have been undertaking detailed research and data collection in different sample locations in three countries - Botswana, Ghana and Uganda. "In many countries in Africa," begins the report prepared by Dr Scott and Dr McKemey of Gamos, "the recent uptake of telecommunications services has exceeded all predictions, proving that there is an unexpectedly high demand for services.

In Ghana, picking up the telephone to call your auntie can require a lot of patience and some gritting of teeth. When making a call from mobile to fixed lines, almost half of telephone calls do not go through because of system failures. Businesses often have receptionists who spend most of their time just dialing numbers until they get through. Setting up an Internet café in such conditions is not ideal, but Mark Davies, an experienced ICT entrepreneur, recognised the demand and today he is the CEO of BusyInternet Accra, the biggest Internet cafe in Africa.

The International Federation of Journalists has called on the authorities in Zimbabwe to end the persecution of The Daily News and its staff. The newspaper is facing closure because of new registration rules, which the IFJ says "are designed to force media to toe the government line or face extinction."

Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has expressed concern about the arbitrary detention of journalist Kadima Mukombe. The Radio Kilimandjaro host has been detained at the Tshikapa central prison, in the country's southern region, for the past month.

Pedzisayi Ruhanya, the deputy news editor of The Daily News and Ishmael Mafundikwa a freelance journalist have been arrested for allegedly obstructing police duties. Ruhanya was manhandled by 3 policemen and dragged into a police vehicle. The two are locked up at the Harare Central police station.

AllAfrica.com is hosting a public forum on the status and direction of the campaign against Aids in Africa. Visit the web site to have you say.

The police detained Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, The Daily News Chief Photographer and two American reporters covering Zimbabwe’s food crisis, for almost seven hours in Bulawayo. The journalists were accused of unlawful entry into a Grain Marketing Board they had visited.

We have concrete grounds for calling on the African Union to focus its attention on the question of the respect of the right to freedom of expression. Journalists in Africa work under particularly hostile circumstances and, because of their important role in building and maintaining democracy, require recognition and protection.

The Course Aims to: Promote the understanding of human rights information as a theory of human rights; Inculcate a culture of human rights promotion and protection; Understanding how to Control and Disseminate Human Rights Information; Promote the use of IT for Human Rights Information Work; Understanding the place of a Library in Human Rights Work.